


Talking to Birdie

by tuppenny



Series: Growing Together [21]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Children, F/M, Fluff, Jack Kelly is a Good Dad, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: Jack talks to his unborn child.
Relationships: Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer
Series: Growing Together [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/763230
Comments: 10
Kudos: 11





	Talking to Birdie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marissaiswholocked1011](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marissaiswholocked1011/gifts).



> Marissa gave me the following prompt: "Jack talking to the kids when Katherine was pregnant with them." I hope this delivers! 
> 
> Other notes: Ellie is almost 6, Nicky is 3 ½, Theo is 25months  
>  _A leanbh_ = Irish Gaelic for "my child"  
>  _A thaisce_ = Irish Gaelic for "my treasure"

**February 1915**

“…an’ I’m gonna love you so much, Birdie, just you wait—I already do, you know,” Jack murmured, his head bent close to Katherine’s stomach. She was six or seven months along by now, they thought; far enough into the pregnancy that her morning sickness was long gone and her ankles had swollen to twice their usual size.

“Mmm,” Katherine said sleepily, beginning to wake at the sound of his voice. “Jackie?”

He sat up and smiled. “Just talkin’ to the baby, macushla.”

She smiled back, her eyes falling closed once more. “Mkay,” she mumbled, throwing an arm over her eyes to block out the thin light of the streetlamps that filtered through their bedroom window. “ ‘M going back to sleep.”

Jack nodded, turning back to Katherine’s distended belly and rubbing it gently. “Your ma’s tired, little one,” he whispered. “You wear her out, you know? Alla that growin’ you’re doin’.” He felt the baby kick underneath his hand, and he beamed. “What a clever baby you are, hmm?”

He laid down, pressing close to Katherine’s side. “I’m gonna do my best to be a good dad to you, _a leanbh_.” The baby moved again, and Jack saw the rounded curve of his child’s head pressing outwards. He stroked Katherine’s skin, marveling at the fact that his baby, his _baby_ , was right there beneath his fingertips.

“I won’t always get it right with you, Birdie,” Jack said softly, keeping his hand cupped around the baby’s head. “I get things wrong an awful lot, in fact.” The baby shifted, and Jack gave a breathy laugh. “You make a good point there, baby. You’re a smart little thing—I can already tell.” Jack sighed, rolling his right shoulder to ease the stiffness there. “I promise I’ll do my best, though. I swear it. I dunno how your brothers an’ sister would rate me as a dad, but they seem to love me pretty well. Maybe you will, too.”

Jack felt the end of his child’s elbow jut out into his palm and held his breath as Katherine moaned. He watched as she shifted her legs slightly, trying unsuccessfully to find a more comfortable position, and he let his breath out when she fell still once more. “I can’t wait to see you,” Jack said, his voice low. “We’ll play tag an’ fly kites an’ read books, all six of us, an’ you an’ me… we’ll find somethin’ to do that’s just for us, okay? We’ll have time for just us two. Get to know each other.”

He nodded to himself, resolved to make this happen. He drew pictures with Ellie, he talked cars with Nicky, he played dress-up with Theo—he’d find something to share with the baby, too. “I’m gonna teach you so many things, _a leanbh_. How to throw a baseball, for one. Can’t let you disgrace the Kelly name out on the diamond, no sir.”

He grinned, thinking of the summer days ahead with his new baby in his arms, of holding hands with his kids as they walked to the ballpark, of the soupy heat and the crack of the bat and wiping his children’s sticky fingers after buying them far too much Cracker Jack as they all cheered on the Giants together. He’d tried to teach Ellie how to play stickball in the park, thinking she’d want to learn in order to keep up with Charlie’s boys, but she much preferred to be the self-appointed coach of both teams and yell completely nonsensical directions at everyone, including the spectators. Nicky showed promise, though—at age three-and-a-half, he was able to nail his siblings with stuffed animals and poorly-packed snowballs more often than not. Theo… well. But Theo wasn’t even out of diapers yet, so there was still time. And this new baby—

“Daddy?”

Jack lifted his head to see Nicholas standing in the doorway, a stuffed animal lion dangling from his chubby fist.

“G’morning, Bug,” Jack said, just loud enough for Nicholas to hear. “Wanna cuddle?”

Nicky nodded and, following Jack’s hand motions, padded around the room to climb up onto Jack’s side of the bed. Jack leaned over to help his son, but Nicholas shook his head and insisted on doing it himself, making grunting noises and dropping his lion in the process. Jack winced as he stretched down to get the stuffed animal, feeling his shoulder twinge.

“Whatcha doin’, Daddy?” Nicky asked. At full volume, of course.

Katherine fidgeted, and Jack raised a finger to his lips as he handed the lion back to his son. “Shh, _a thaisce_. Mommy’s sleeping.”

Nicholas’ eyes widened and he nodded. “Whatcha doin’, Daddy?” He repeated, this time in a whisper that felt louder than his normal voice.

“I’m talkin’ to Birdie,” Jack said, laying a hand back on Katherine’s stomach.

“What about?” Nicky scooched closer to Jack and laid his head on Jack’s thigh.

“About all the fun things we’re gonna do together once Birdie’s born.”

Nicky smiled. “Like hide an’ seek?”

“Yes,” Jack said, smoothing Nicholas’ hair. “An' goin’ to the park, an' makin’ pancakes for breakfast.”

“An’ playin’ baseball?” Nicky lifted his head, his eyes growing big and hopeful. “Will the baby play baseball?”

Jack held in a laugh. “I sure hope so, pumpkin.” He saw Nicholas’ face fall and amended, “I think so. We’ll teach the baby how, anyway, yeah? You an’ me?”

Nicholas smiled, reassured. “Yeah. I’m good at baseball. I’ll show Birdie how.”

“That’s my boy.” Jack rubbed Nicky’s back with his bad hand, silently grateful that, even though he couldn’t do much in the way of fine motor skills with his right hand anymore, his children couldn’t have cared less. He could hold them and play with them and comfort them and make sure they wanted for nothing, and, if you asked Jack, that was more than enough to ask for from a hand. Besides, he had Katherine to help with small buttons and boot laces when absolutely necessary, which wasn’t often, and using his left hand for most things felt natural now. Which he supposed it was, given that his teachers and Snyder had beaten his left-handedness out of him in the first place.

Jack clenched his jaw as he thought about his own childhood. “You’ll never go through that, Birdie,” he promised fiercely. “None of it.” He pressed a kiss to Nicholas’ cheek. “You either, Bug.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Nicholas yawned, completely oblivious and uninterested in the details.

Jack’s face softened. “You tired, sweetheart?”

“No,” Nicky said, his eyes drooping closed. “I wanna know more.”

“More what?”

“More thingses we gon' do with Birdie,” Nicholas said, his words almost unintelligible.

Jack’s lips quirked upwards. “We’ll cuddle,” he said, pulling Nicholas into his arms and tilting them sideways until they were lying down on the bed. He reached to his left to pull a blanket over them and held his son close. “Me an’ you an’ Mommy an’ Ellie an’ Theo an’ Birdie are gonna do lotsa cuddlin’ once Birdie's born, Nicky-boy.”

“Mmm. I like cuddlin’,” Nicky said muzzily, squirming closer and slotting his head under Jack’s chin.

“Me, too, _a thaisce_ ,” Jack said, closing his eyes and hugging Nicholas tight. “Me, too.”


End file.
